


Pink and Red and Blue

by Oxygenation



Category: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe (Cartoon), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: POV Third Person, Post-Gravity Falls, Post-Steven Universe, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Work In Progress (WIP)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28931091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oxygenation/pseuds/Oxygenation
Summary: It's been close to a year since Bill Cipher was written away as a bad memory, and the reclusive town of Gravity Falls was rescued from within by the Pines family.It's been a few months since a child named Frisk fell into the Underground and liberated Monsterkind, who had been trapped for centuries.It's been mere weeks since Steven returned triumphantly from the the Gem's Homeworld, having shown the Diamond Authority a better way and saved his universe.Somehow, it's taken this long for anyone to notice.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. The Beginning of a New Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for taking the time to read through this story.
> 
> If you enjoy what you find, the author would greatly appreciate it if you left a comment on any of the Chapters, since feedback is so helpful. Even something as simple as a suggestion or spelling error would be welcomed. If you don't enjoy the plot, or it's not to your taste, feel free to quit reading at any time.
> 
> The story will happen in Arcs, building up to a grand conclusion.
> 
> The first five chapters were released together, with updates coming sporadically afterward.

Ever since he'd saved the countless galaxies and planets, Steven thought to himself as he fell weightlessly through the unfamiliar air, he hadn't had anything new to do.  
Admittedly, it was a slight exaggeration, although only closely. Every single day it seemed that more and more oppressed Gems from across the universe had been Warping to random locations across Earth, enough so that Pearl and Peridot were discussing the possibilty of installing a new Warp Pad, a rendezvous for alien refugees who didn't believe in the heel-face turn of the Diamound Authority. That didn't even tip the scale, however, for the number of formerly corrupted Gems who needed psychiatric help to get over their trauma. Steven did what he could, but sometimes he felt like his patients just saw him as Rose Quartz, as almost everyone else once had. Sometimes this lead to overt aggression, others times to uncomfortable familiarity..  
It was stressful work to be a teacher instead of a healer, but it kept him busy without any immediate crisis on his horizon. At Pearl's insistence he'd reluctantly kept up with his combat training with Connie - which only helped to cut further into his remaining free time -, but even Garnet had given up with the practice. That definitely should've reassured him… after all, Garnet could see the paths and possibilities the future held for them far more clearly than anyone else. Except it didn't reassure him. Perhaps he was paranoid, but Steven couldn't help but think liberating the universe had been far too easy. He was waiting for something else to happen.  
On one innocuous Saturday morning, he'd stepped up onto the Warp Pad, taken a deep breath, closed his eyes, and went to someplace new.  
His reasoning was simple. In only the past few weeks alone, numerous Warps across dozens of galaxies had been swiftly repaired with all the efficiency of Gemkind, and connected to the Warp network. While Steven had no desire to visit a terraformed planet only a hundred lightyears from his home, he was often delighted at the sights these intact foreign locations held for him. The lighting, the colour, the nature and everything else was often so different to what was expected on Earth. Like this planet he'd found, with a blue sun and two red moons in the sky on one of his earlier ventures.  
On this planet, the gravity was decidedly weaker, and the air was a little thinner, but as long as Steven didn't exert himself, he figured he was going to be alright. There were apparent signs of a ruined civilisation of some extinct alien race, but the planet hadn't been terraformed, reassuring him that Earth hadn't been the only surving planet from the Gems intergalactic reign. Taking advantage of the weak gravity, he bounced up and down, laughing happily to himself all the while like he was a young, innocent kid again. Until he started gagging from the thin oxygen and decided to leave the planet before he choked on the atmosphere.

When Steven reappeared at home within the beam of light, none of the Crystal Gems around or where he could see them, a sudden tremor rumbled around him, setting him off balance. He didn't really mind so much - aside from being reminded unpleasantly of the time the Cluster within the Earth's core had nearly destroyed the planet - until he noticed the glass windows shaking ferociously in their frames, as if about to break.  
"Oh, no no no, Bismuth only just fixed this house!" Steven exclaimed loudly, sounding annoyed. Glass was replaceable, but Pearl wouldn't have been happy. Running over to the couch, he grabbed a couple of pillows, before deciding they'd be utterly ineffectual against an earthquake and dropped them both the wooden floor. Changing his tactics, Steven put his hands together and formed between them a pink magical bubble, curtesy of his powers inherited from his mother Rose Quartz. He was starting to wonder about what he'd do with it when the tremor abruptly ended, everything suddenly as still and quiet as when he'd left.  
"Uh- huh," Steven remarked with puzzlement, dismissing his bubble. "That was strange. Was there an earthquake while I was gone?" As he voiced the question aloud to himself, at that moment the Temple door opened and Garnet strode out briskly, visor dark on her face. Steven grinned with relief, turning towards the informal leader of the Crystal Gems. He opened his mouth, about to explainto Garnet what he'd just seen-  
Before he could talk, Garnet took off her shades, revealing her three eyes staring intently at the window behind him. "Fourth time in three weeks," she announced, which meant nothing to him.  
"Fourth time what?" Steven asked, hoping she'd clarify what she'd meant by her cryptic phrase. Only then did he belatedly realise that she was likely referring to the tremor. Fourth tremor in three weeks? Was that likely?  
As if Garnet had read his thoughts, she told him, "every time it gets stronger, Steven. It's starting to cause destruction. It's not an earthquake, but something… else. Magical in origin." With that, she stepped around him and headed towards the door.  
"Wait, what did you say?" Steven yelped, scrambling to follow her. Garnet had answers, and he was full of questions. "Magical? I've never really thought of you guys as magical. You meant Gem technology, right?" Causing a minor disturbance? What was the point of it?  
Garnet didn't choose to elaborate, keeping him in the dark for now. "Tomorrow we'll go talk to Peridot, see if we can trace its origin. For now, though… have a good day, Steven." With finality, no invitation to resume the conversation.  
It was starting again, the Crystal Gems keeping secrets from him. In the past it'd made sense, but… why now? He'd proven himself capable repeatedly. Steven slowed to a stop, a dejected expression on his face as Garnet shut the door behind her.


	2. Making Promises

The voice was there always, in the back of his mind. Sometimes the voice had a name, and other times Frisk heard it as the companions she'd once met and consistently befriended. _Toriel. Papyrus. Undyne. Alphys._ Endless, and irrevocable.  
Frisk was far from perfect, he knew it. She made mistakes all of the time, sometimes intentionally. It wasn't a problem, after all; all Frisk needed to do was to close his eyes and focus on the power burning inside her Soul, and he'd backtrack. Reset to an earlier point in time. Apart from a few strange sensations of déjà vu, absolutely nobody but her would remember _anything_.  
**Except Flowey. Except Sans. Except Chara.**  
Chara was the spirit taunting Frisk, every day of his life. It hadn't always been that way… but once she'd picked up the knife and used it against former friends, there had been no going back. No changing the impossible circumstances. Frisk could Reset the events of the past all he wanted… it made no difference. And yet she kept trying.  
Even now, he felt it. Burning intently, as he sat up on the cliff of Mt Ebbot overseeing the wilderness below with tears in her eyes. Even with his slowly-building worldwide fame, with the title and funding to go anywhere she wished, Frisk had stayed in the small village near the base of the mountain for a reason. It was tradition, for him to wait up here before tugging firmly on that power and Resetting. Back to the start.  
It was strange, but out here the Monsters quickly became unpredictable, with the diversity of what the Surface world promised them. It was one of the reasons Frisk had rejected Toriel, at least half of the time. The kindly mother didn't need her anymore, and he didn't want her either.  
Like clockwork, the two people Frisk had ever been able to trust to act naturally arrived from the mouth of the cave behind her. The golden, soulless flower. The short, good-natured skeleton. Flowey and Sans.

"You wanted to talk to me, kid?" Sans asked Frisk, sitting down beside him. "Can I guess why? I was waiting on Papyrus to head out."  
The words stuck in her throat, as they so usually did. Frisk nodded, and Sans narrowed his eyesockets as if he needed no further explanation.  
"You were going to Reset." No question about it. Frisk hesitantly nodded. "When?"  
"Frisk…" Flowey sighed aloud, sounding for a moment a lot like Asriel. Then the moment passed. "I don't know how many times we've had this conversation, but can I just ask… what do you get out of it?"  
Frisk wasn't a fan of talking to others, but he didn't mind explaining to these two, given it was in moderation. "Closure. It helps keep me together, living life in such a standard routine." The answer she always gave. It was why he Reset like clockwork.  
Flowey looked doubtful, though. That was different. What had she done differently? Was it because of the months that had passed, instead of the usual hours or days? "That's not the answer you really mean," he told Frisk.  
"Does it matter? I'm… well, I…" Frisk stumbled over his words. "What else would you suggest, then?"  
Sans took the opportunity to interrupt, being the Monster he was. Getting back up, he said, "try something different, he suggested, holding his bony hand out to Frisk. "Walk down this mountain with me, take a plane somewhere new. You don't want routine, kid. You want adventure, not the kind of life where you sit behind a desk or enjoy endless luxuries. You like the struggle that comes with the Underground, and you don't think you'd find that here?"  
Frisk considered his pitch for a moment, with rising temptation. It sounded fun, if nothing else. And despite how utterly wrong Sans was about her motivation, Frisk could learn to love that sort of life. Eventually. Maybe. To an extent.  
Frisk cast a look back at Flowey, who seemed dejected, kneeling forward with wilting petals. He felt nothing. Taking a breath, Frisk reached up and took Sans's hand. Adventure awaited.  
**Adventure awaits us,** Chara whispered in her ear menacingly. A threat and a promise.


	3. Reneging Promises

Last summer had been the best three months of Dipper's life, but the rest of the year had been largely uneventful. He'd kept expecting zombies to rise from the ground, or a werewolf to break down the door to his house, or even for his least favourite dream demon to talk to him. None of that, or anything even close to supernatural, had manifested before him. Pity. He'd silently decided that once he was old enough to live without his parents, he'd move to Gravity Falls permanently, as his Great-Uncle Stanford Pines once had done.  
As it was though, at thirteen years of age he was trapped. It was worse since he couldn't even tell anyone about his last summer, or he'd have been classified as the weird kid. Mabel had actually tried to share their story, but nobody took her seriously anyway. Thankfully.  
But now the time was close for when they'd return to Gravity Falls. Last year their parents had packed for them both, but this time around that hadn't been necessary. Dipper had packed accordingly and weeks in advance, and Mabel was currently jumping on her suitcase to make everything compact inside. Dipper watched with a slightly amused expression, running thoughts through his head. In his lap laid the hat given to him by Wendy, the older girl he'd once crushed hard on.  
_We definitely need to catch up on everything that's happened_ , Dipper thought to himself, tapping his chin. _I want to hear about Stan and Ford's trip_. The two older twins had made up near the end of the summer, and Ford had sent him a coded message midway through the year. Apparently, they'd found something dangerous, but Dipper knew nothing further than that.  
Mabel stopped jumping, a tired look on her face, and quickly sat down on her suitcase. "Dipper, zip it!" she told him, and with a sigh he stood up and padded over to where she was. Taking hold of the zipper, he pulled it along the circumference of the suitcase, shutting it tightly.  
"What are you gonna do when we arrive?" Dipper asked her with slight curiosity. "The contents are gonna explode."  
"I'll figure that out when we get there," she told him with a smile, the momemt before the doorbell rang. The two twins looked at each other briefly, before Mabel said, "i'll answer it."  
Their parents rarely answered the door; they were notorious for it. Dipper got up, shaking his head. "I'll get it. I don't want you to drive the mail away with your sunny personality."  
Mabel made a face and Dipper turned and left the room, heading down the stairs towards the door. The bell rang again, so it was probably important. Muttering under his breath, he pulled the door open to see the face of his Great-Uncle Ford.

For a moment he was still. They were leaving to Gravity Falls later that day, so this was so unexpected. Perhaps he was seeing things. Dipper blinked his eyes in surprise, sputtering syllables. Nope, he was still there.  
"Dipper!" Ford exclaimed, getting down on one knee to hug Dipper. Numbly, he patted the old man's back awkwardly. "Feels like it's been forever, doesn't it?"  
"Longest year of my _life_ ," Dipper agreed with a grin. At least it felt that way to him, and there was no law against hyperbole. "What are you doing here?"  
Ford let go of the hug, rising back to a standing position. "I intended to get here days ago, but a troll slowed me down." He tapped his shoulder and winced with pain, but quickly shook it off. "Nothing serious. A few months ago, there was a sudden spike in Weirdness in the region of Mt Koriô, but when I investigated there was nothing to find." His expression changed to one of disappointment. "A few weeks ago, however, there was another spike in Long Island. And this somehow triggered… something. I don't know what."  
"Dipper!" Mabel's voice rang out from upstairs. It was disconcerting for him, to hear her cheerful voice on the heels of what he just learned. "What's taking so long?"  
Dipper bit his lip nervously. "I thought we were going to Gravity Falls, me and Mabel. I promised I wouldn't leave her, and…" he trailed off, leaving Ford to figure out what was left unsaid.  
"Mabel's not like us, Dipper," Ford told him, urgency leaking into his tone. "She wouldn't enjoy this assignment, I don't think. But you have the right head for it. Coming down to the point, I need you Dipper." He tried a smile, as if his sales pitch had already won Dipper over. "What do you say?"  
Dipper shut his eyes. "Give me a minute to think."  
_Mabel's going to be disappointed if I leave her to take the bus to Gravity Falls alone,_ explained one aspect of his mind. His cynical thoughts. _And Ford hasn't even explained everything._  
_Mabel's tough, she'd make it through,_ argued the optimistic Dipper. _There are friends in Gravity Falls… and she has Waddles._ Waddles the pig had been sorely protested by their parents, but after a fierce argument - likely the first time Mabel had ever been really angry in front of them -, Waddles was permitted to stay, with conditions.  
_You could be gone for all of the summer,_ cynical Dipper pointed out. _How's she going to cope with that?_  
Dipper opened one eye. "Great-uncle Ford, how long is your trip going to take?" His mouth felt dry.  
Ford nodded as if he'd been expecting the question. "Few weeks," he told the boy. "A month if we're slow."  
"Then i'll do it," Dipper said. "Just let me break the news to Mabel. When do we leave?"  
Ford's expression didn't change. "Today."


	4. Say Goodbye

It was going to be Frisk's first time boarding a plane.  
At first, she'd protested the method of transport; much better was the boat the Riverman had rowed, how smooth the silent river had been, and yet incredibly quick. However, it had been Undyne of all people to correct him; the Riverman's boat had sailed only along the quietest rivers, and those were only so because there was no real Underground ocean nearby, with whales and such to createwaves and disturbances. The reality on the surface was vastly different, however.  
If that wasn't an option, Frisk had pondered, Sans could just as easily teleport her as far as he wished; unfortunately, the skeleton had disappeared overnight.  
So, here Frisk was, at an airport roughly an hour away from Mt Ebott, seemingly alone with no luggage of his own. The sight of such a young child in such a state drew unwanted curious glancers from strangers, but nobody came up to take her away. Probably they just hoped someone else would do it instead.  
He glanced around curiously, wondering where she could buy a ticket with the copious amount of money he'd been paid for seemingly no reason by a tall man in a dark suit a few weeks after emerging from the depths of Mt Ebbot, when a familiar group of individuals emerged from a hallway and Frisk had to stifle a tear. Her friends.  
First came Undyne, screaming crazily and drawing angry looks from passerbys. Frisk grinned, remembering that disasterous attempt they'd had to cook food together. Following behind was Alphys, who looked utterly mortified.  
One by one, Mettaton, Napstablook, Muffet, Asgore and Sans, who trailed along the others like an afterthought, came forward to greet the lonely human child. Never alone, but forever lonely.  
A familiar pain burned behind Frisk's eyes as those thoughts filled his head, repeating over and over. **You don't have to feel lonely, Frisk. I'll always be your friend.**  
Chara, Frisk's dark shadow. The demon who appeared whenever you called her name, and even sometimes when you didn't. Chara really just turned up whenever, actually.  
_I'm not erasing this world,_ Frisk told him firmly, before putting Chara utterly out of the forefront of her mind. For now.

"Toriel couldn't make it?" Frisk asked, addressing Asgore. The words pinched his heart painfully. At least she'd known Papyrus wouldn't have made it, as Sans had implied the previous night. Asgore didn't even know Frisk that well, overall, yet he had still come.  
The royal old Monster smiled sadly, and shook his head. "She had something else to do."  
Frisk had rejected Toriel on the mountain summit, at least this time, and the former Queen still hadn't gotten over it. Even Asgore had turned up, and he barely knew Frisk. As for Muffet… the spider Monster didn't even _like_ him.  
Napstablook wobbled in place, where he floated to the side dejectedly. "I could lend you a copy of my soundtrack, if you like," he offered unhelpfully. Even so, it was a generous offer, a testament to the ghost's character. He didn't sought to help anyone feeling sorry, but rather to sympathise. Frisk liked him.  
Before she could consider taking him up on his offer, Mettaton interrupted them both, rolling forward on his wheel. "Sorry Blooky, but your soundtrack's dead depressing. The darling would perhaps like something more… personal." After a momentary pause, he said, "a signed, uncut edition of our dance together, perhap. Highest ratings i've ever achieved."  
Mettaton was as vain as ever, Frisk noticed, but that wasn't necessarily unappealing in a star. He didn't answer the robot, instead tilting her head to the side as if wondering why the others were so absolutely quiet. Nervous?  
Alphys broke the silence first. "Frisk, it's thanks to you that I have Undyne, this beautiful world full of questions, and new anime to pass the time. I'm sorry, but at some point I stopped thinking of you as an individual. You were so nice and helpful to all of us, and… I- I guess I forgot you ha- had your own needs." She'd started stammering near the end of her statement.  
"Yep," Undyne affirmed simply, before choosing to elaborate. "At least, I agree with Alphys on her first two points. I've kinda stopped watching anime since you told me it wasn't actually real."  
Frisk winced, turning his head away. Undyne's reaction had just been funny at the time, and there hadn't been anything else to it.  
Sans, who thus far been silent as the grave, kicked at the floor as he muttered, "Muffet wanted to give you something."  
A gift? From the most reclusive, plainly evil towards Frisk, Monster in the Underground? That was surprising. She kept her head up as Muffet blinked her many eyes and held up… a donut wrapped in plastic. Frisk stared at it as if it had teeth.  
"Take it, dearie," Muffet told him, her expression indecipherable. "I baked it especially for you, as a tribute of what you've done for Spiderkind with the gold you funded."  
Really? Frisk had no idea. In any case, reluctantly, she took the donut and put it in his backpocket. She'd never actually eat it, most likely. It was literally made of spiders.  
Sans mumbled, "i'll get the kid on the plane. Anyone else coming along?"  
After it was attested that no indeed, nobody else wanted to come, Sans had nodded and taken Frisk along by the shoulder. When they'd rounded the corner, the moment they were alone, Sans used his magic to hoist Frisk up and shove him against the wall hard. She was too surprised to cry out.  
A mother with two kids trailing behind her rounded the corner that moment, slowing to a stop to stare at the scene. With Sans turned away, they probably thought he was a short albino. "Stop hurting that poor child!" she cried aloud, stepping forward. "Who do you think you are, crook?"  
Sans flashed a smile at Frisk before turning his head slowly to look at the woman. She began to whimper in fear. "No ma'am, i'm not a crook," the skeleton informed her, before his tone fell to a low one. The effect was terrifying as he said, "i'm a _Monster_."  
The trio, the mother and her kids, swiftly fled after that. Sans chuckled good-naturedly before turning back to Frisk. "Now that we're alone again… you Reset back then, didn't you kid? I felt it." When Frisk didn't respond, he shoved him against the wall again painfully. "When?" the skeleton pressed.  
"I Saved after I saw you guys, but before you came over," Frisk finally broke her silence, confessing the use of his power. "Good thing to, because the first time didn't go so well." "You gotta learn to let yourself make mistakes, kid! Don't Reset for trivialities." Sans let go of his power, dropping Frisk heavily to the floor. Without complaining, ignoring the stiffness in her bones, the child got back up.


	5. A Mountainous Summit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and The Crystal Gems Warp to the Koriô Mountains, and meet a pair of strangers investigating the same area for similar reasons.

_Dipper looked around in excitement as the bus slowed to a stop, taking in the scenery outside. They were on the outskirts of Koriô Forest, roughly an hour away from Mt Koriô. The bus trip had taken them most of the day, but it was nowhere as long as the ride to Gravity Falls would've been.  
"I suppose I wouldn't have been spending my days in a labcoat with Great-Uncle Ford," Dipper murmured under his breath, before looking back at his mysterious relative. Ford was scribbling in a red book with golden corners and a golden handprint on the cover, identical in every way to his other Journals except for the ornate '4' written on the six-fingered hand.  
"I thought the Jounrals were all destroyed," Dipper remarked, and Ford snapped the Journal shut.  
"They were, Bill destroyed the original copies," he affirmed, passing the book to Dipper. "But Stan had allegedly taken the initiative at some point and ran the Journals through my old photo-copier."  
"Well, now that you're not in Gravity Falls, what are you writing about?" Dipper asked him, gingerly opening the book and skimming the pages. It was only partially filled in, but this Journal had entries regarding beings Dipper had never seen or heard about before.  
"Gravity Falls was never the only location with Weird activity," Ford reminded him. "I've taken to writing about anything I found supernatural."  
"Like this place?" Dipper asked him, jumping from his seat. "Let's go look for something worth finding." Just as a stream of light came from the sky, disappearing promptly._

~

Thankfully, it turned out that there was indeed a Warp Pad near the base of Mt Koriô, so they wouldn't be forced to drive.  
When Steven had asked why that specific Warp existed, Garnet and Pearl had merely exchanged unreadable glances. That probably meant the answer was old. Even too old for Amethyst, who was the youngest Crystal Gem. Excluding Steven, of course.  
"Garnet, are you sure a few natural disasters is a sign of _Magic_?" Pearl had whispered ahead, barely within earshot. "This is the planet Earth, after all."  
"I'm sure of it," Garnet had affirmed, speaking in her normal tone of voice with finality, no invitation to continue arguing. Pearl fell back as quickly as if Garnet had brandished her gauntlets in her face.  
Steven was meandering behind with Amethyst, who was complaining about the excessive heat. "It's like a swamp!" she exclaimed.  
"You're fine with traversing the desert," Steven reminded her, sounding puzzled. "What's wrong with this place?"  
Amethyst hesitated, seemingly unable to provide a decent answer. "The desert's _just_ hot, okay? The trees here feel like they're closing in."  
Steven was forced to agree. A few times now he'd looked back and could've sworn the foundation of the forest had shifted inexplicably. Similarly to the vines in his mother's garden, back in the past. But Rose Quartz had no reason to ever come here, surely.  
"Have you guys ever come here before?" Steven spoke up, his tone curious. "Why are you being so secretive now?"  
It was Pearl who answered. "Rose and I once came alone together, to see about using it as a base. Only the land was cursed, so we Warped away."  
"Wait… I was just thinking my mum wouldn't have come here," Steven said, looking back. Those moving trees no longer seemed so sinister. "So why are we here now?"  
Pearl opened her mouth to speak, but it was Garnet who answered his question. "It's an old story, Steven. Let's just say that the war didn't only happen between Gems and Humans." A snake lunged out at Garnet from the twisted branches, and she'd caught it in one gauntleted hand easily. Without any obvious effort, Garnet flung the snake up and away, somewhere far else in the forest.  
"Other aliens?" Steven guessed, wondering why he'd never heard of them if so. "Did the other Gems exterminate them all?" The thought saddened him.  
"No," Pearl reassured him. "No other alien races were involved in the war. They were all residents of Earth."  
"Did they all die?" Amethyst asked her, sounding invested in the conversation. "What were they?"  
"Monsters," Pearl said simply. "A very fitting name, if the stories are true. Garnet, how close are we?"  
Garnet swung her fist, beating a path through the thistles and weeds to show that they had made it to the base of the mountain. She didn't need to say a word.

That moment, a voice yelled out, "hey! You four!"  
Before Steven could stop to think about it, he'd already run forward, stepping around Pearl to stand by Garnet's side. Ahead was an old man looking well for his age, and a boy close to Steven's age. The man was holding a book and wore glasses, so he was definitely someone smart.  
"Why are they here?" Amethyst whispered behind Steven. "It's just a mountain to them."  
"What's your name?" Garnet asked the duo, ignoring Amethyst.  
The boy stammered nervously, "I- I'm Dipper, and this is my Great-Uncle Ford. Who are you four?"  
"Your name's Dipper?" Amethyst sniggered, stepping to the other side of Steven. "Did your parents hate you kid, or something?"  
The boy, Dipper, shook his head. "My name's Mason, but don't call me that. Please."  
"Sure thing," Steven agreed, looking up the mountain. There was a path he could see, a bit to the left, but he wasn't sure where it led. "I'm Steven, and i'm with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Why are you guys here?"  
Ford cleared his throat, apparently pleased with the turn of events. "My research said it was called Mt Koriô, with nothing special about it, but clearly that wasn't true. So I-"  
"It's called Mt Koriô by humanity," Garnet interrupted him. "Mt Ebott, that's it's true name, and it's said that if you ascend the mountain, you'd never be seen again."  
The words sent a chill down Steven's spine, but Dipper and Ford seemed simply impressed. "Exactly what my research said, but I appreciate the confirmation. Do you know what happened to those who did?"  
"No," Pearl said. "That's the point. I once knew a Gem who braved the summit… gone, never heard from again."  
"You're hiding something," Ford said after a momentary pause. "But I won't pry. I suppose this trip was a waste of time." He looked so crestfallen, Steven took a step towards him…  
That moment, an unfamiliar voice - which seemed to come from the ground between them - casually asked, "what are y'all doing here?"


	6. Happy Greetings

When Mabel had been younger, she had been convinced beyond reason that she and Dipper shared a telepathic connection, like the twins in every second movie and show popular at the time. Despite trying constantly to finish Dipper's sentences and read his mind - without any success -, she'd always felt like there was a second heartbeat in her chest.  
A few weeks without Dipper didn't seem like a long time, and yet Mabel had cried when she'd first been told. He'd promisedher last summer that he'd never leave her, and now he was doing just that. Then he'd left with Grunkle Ford - who didn't even care enough to come inside to see Mabel, she'd had to go outside -, then she'd boarded the bus to Gravity Falls a few hours later, and fell asleep with Waddles the pig in the seat beside her. The bus driver hadn't complained, thankfully.  
Even so, Mabel had felt cheerful by the end of the bus trip. She still had friends in Gravity Falls, after all. She'd have fun, even if Dipper wasn't by her side. Bittersweet. People didn't actually stay sad about trivialities for long.  
The bus rumbled to a stop as the driver announced in a somber tone, "Last stop, Gravity Falls." Mabel was the only person left on the bus, so without ceremony she took her bag and hoisted it up onto her shoulder, and disembarked the bus with Waddles trotting briskly behind her. As she'd expected, there was a small crowd of past friends and acquaintances waiting for her.  
Standing in front of them was her Grunkle Stan, who, unlike his scientific twin brother, wore his age like a loose-fitting cardigan. Despite that, he looked like he hadn't aged a day since she'd last seen him, close to a year ago.  
Without hesitation, Mabel walked up to him first and hugged him. "Hey Mabel," Stan greeted her with a warm smile. He seemed distracted about something, a strange expression in his eye, so Mabel made a mental note to check on him after everyone had dispersed. They had so much to catch up on.  
As well there was Wendy standing behind him, wearing Dipper's old Pinetree cap, Soos with the Mr Mystery hat held between his hands, Gideon standing hand in hand with Pacifica, Old Man McGucket who looked frailer than ever, Robbie with a wide smile, which didn't really suit him, and Grenda and Candy standing shoulder to shoulder.  
"I missed you all _so_ much," Mabel whispered, before letting go of Stan and wiping tears from her eyes. "Gravity Falls, Mabel is back in town!" She exclaimed aloud, settling into a standing stance with her hands on her hips. She wasn't just an ordinary tourist, she reminded heself. Last summer, she and her family had more-or-less saved the world from doomsday, and especially this town.

She went to her friends first. "Hey Mabel!" Grenda exclaimed, her voice as deep and loud as Mabel remembered, if not even moreso. It suited her well, Mabel thought. Mature, inside and out. "How was your year like?"  
She brushed the question aside, having no wish to talk about the most boring, but not unordinary, part of her life thus far. "Uneventful. How was yours?"  
"The same thing," Candy spoke up. "It's kind of hard to go back to your normal life when you've seen a demon try to initiate doomsday." She readjusted her glasses, looking thoughtful. "I never imagined I'd ever say that."  
Mabel knew Dipper had felt the same way, but she'd found it astonishingly easy to return home and act normal. She'd fallen back into routine, which consisted mostly of a lack of routine. Sometimes she had dreams, unsettling in their own ways, but not terrifying. Sometimes she almost forgot about Bill.  
"We'll have a sleepover tonight, like we used to," Mabel promised quickly, forcing a smile onto her face. "Dipper's not here yet, so we can have one every night, if you want. But for now I have to socialise, like a human being." She groaned comically, and Grenda and Candy started laughing. She looked around and headed towards one of the other genuinely friendly people she knew.  
"Hey there Mabel," Wendy greeted her as she approached. The Corduroy had her sweater tied around her waist, possibly concealing an axe behind it. "I couldn't help but overhear you talking, even though I _definitely_ could have, and I was wondering what you meant by Dipper not being here yet."  
"For the same reason Grunkle Ford isn't," Mabel told her. "The two of them went on an adventure somewhere without me. The Koriô Mountain, they said." The bitterness in her voice was palpable, and Wendy seemed to pick up on it.  
"Well, we don't need either of them right now," Wendy shrugged with a smile, and took off the Pinetree hat and planted it on Mabel's head. "You wear it, Mabel, and give it to Dipper when you see him. Which you definitely will before I do." After a moment she added, "it looks good on you."  
"Sure thing Wendy," Mabel promised, just before an incredible idea occurred to her. Immediately she suggested aloud, "we - as in, me and you, Grenda and Candy - should all go on an adventure of our own, like last summer."  
"Like that time we punched out unicorns? I'd be okay with that," Wendy agreed, and Mabel went on to continue talking to people she knew.  
"Hiya," Robbie Valentino waved his hand as Mabel came close. "Where's your brother?" As far as Mabel knew, Robbie and Dipper hadn't been on the best terms last summer, but maybe Robbie had let go of any anger he'd once had.  
"Not here," Mabel told him. "Where's your girlfriend?" Whatever her name was, Mabel couldn't recall.  
"You mean Tambry? She's at a photography camp for two weeks. She's pretty different from when you last saw her," Robbie told Mabel. "She's really changed, but not in a bad way."  
Which may have only happened because of Mabel's direct actions - it was a long time ago, but once she'd messed around with a Love potion and paired Robbie with Tambry to get him to quit obsessing over Wendy -, but that was another story. "Good," she told him with a smile. "Talk to you soon, okay?" Next she went over towards Gideon and Pacifica, who let go of each other's hands quickly. "Well, well, well…" Mabel murmured with curiosity blatant in her tone. "You're dating each other? Why isn't Gideon in jail?" She didn't mean to be insensitive, but she wasn't wrong.  
"We met during the aftermath of Weirdmageddon," Gideon explained, meeting Mabel's eyes. As he looked at Mabel there was no hint of his previous obsessive love, just an apologetic expression. "We hit it off, since we had similar interests, and due to my part in saving this town's residents, I was officially pardoned, although I was put on a watchlist. We've been dating officially for eight months."  
That sounded believable enough. "Wow," Mabel exclaimed in surprise. "You wanted to marry me by our first date. You've mellowed, Gleeful. What changed?"  
Gideon shrugged uncertainly. "Your brother Dipper talked sense into me. My reputation's still ruined, so i've given up the telepathy business and i've focused on engineering. The old man took me under his wing."  
"How about you, Pacifica?" Mabel turned to talk to the rich girl. "How have you been?"  
Pacifica bit her lip. "I'm struggling," she admitted. "My family's struggling. My dad needs psychiatry, and we've lost our ancestral home. But our fortune is intact."  
"Thanks, but I wasn't talking about your family," Mabel cut her off short before Pacifica could go on rambling about her peacocks, or something. "I was talking about _you_. Does Gideon make you happy?"  
"Of course he does," Pacifica said defensively. "Else I wouldn't be dating him. Quit prying, Mabel."  
As Pacifica had proven, it turned out not everyone was happy to see Mabel. She nodded to the happy couple and went towards Old Man McGucket; he nodded and mumbled, "hi there, kiddo. The strawberries are growing nicely," and generally seemed confused about what was happening, so Mabel stepped away politely and walked over to Soos.  
"Hello Mabel," Soos greeted her cheerfully, setting the Mr Mystery hat onto his head. "I like that hat of yours."  
She'd nearly forgotten. "It's Dipper's old Pinetree hat Soos, don't you remember?" Soos merely shrugged as if it didn't matter. Changing the subject, Mabel asked him, "how's business?"  
"Better than ever," Soos smiled happily. "There are plenty of tourists who turn up all the time to see the attractions, or to explore the woods. Of course," his voice dropped to a whisper, so Mabel had to lean in closely to even hear him, "I can't let them see the _real attraction_."  
She'd understood immediately. Last summer, when Bill Cipher - the dream demon who'd caused the aforementioned Weirdmageddon - had been sealed inside Stan's mind and wiped away entirely, along with (thankfully tempoarily) all of his past memories, all that had been left was a stone statue reaching up towards the sky.  
Mabel suddenly had the urge, the desire to check on the statue, just to make sure it hadn't been moved or broken or anything.  
"Can I see it?" Mabel asked him furtively, and Soos nodded reluctantly after a moment.  
"I'll show you when everyone's gone," he promised.


	7. The Golden Evil

Their conversation with the living flower had started out nicely. He'd introduced himself as Flowey, and helpfully explained to them the basics of the Mountain. It was Mt Ebott to the people of the Underground, he'd said, while being known as Mt Koriô to all but the most paranoid schizophrenic conspiracy theorists out there. Then Amethyst had said something harmless - a casual _thanks_ , Dipper thought - and Flowey snapped, turning plain nasty in the breadth of a second. Dipper remembered the taunting voice of Bill Cipher, his brilliant golden colour, the absolute lack of anything close to humanity, innocence, goodness or truth, with the ability to pretend to be your best friend when it suited him.  
Flowey was a lot like Bill Cipher in those ways, if less overwhelming.  
At the moment Steven held the ranting, angry flower in a floating pink bubble he'd seemingly manifested from nowhere. Dipper would've thought it violated some basic rule of the universe, but… he'd spent his last summer at Gravity Falls. Technology, alien technology, Dipper would've guessed dismissively, had Ford not exclaimed, his tone as if the thought had been at the back of his mind all conversation, "you're all Gems, aren't you?"  
Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst had all exchanged glances. Steven was too distracted to notice. Pearl reluctantly nodded yes, and shared a look with Garnet.  
Now they were inviting Ford and Dipper to their home for a friendly chat about anything and everything.  
Dipper couldn't imagine that this would be good news.  
"Um, Great-Uncle Ford," Dipper whispered the moment he was sure the Gems and Steven were sufficiently distracted with interrogating Flowey. "What are Gems exactly?"  
Ford's forehead furrowed. "They're inorganic aliens, physical only by their 'gem', which could be located anywhere on the surface of their body. If you look at Pearl, for example, her gem is the stone in her forehead." As if belatedly realising that they could be dangerous, Ford added, "if you need to kill or hurt them, that's the only spot that would suffice. Otherwise they'll regenerate."  
Last summer he had a demon to fight. Now he has aliens. How much worse could this get? Oh right, the spike of Weirdness around the mountain. Perhaps they were out of their depth.  
"Thanks," Dipper murmured. "Anything else? What are their immediate weaknesses?"  
"Their physical forms crumble easily if you take them by surprise," Ford whispered back. "A sword through the back would stop one quick easily. The issue is, these guys seem to be trained in combat."  
At least Dipper knew a way to defend himself, if it came down to it. He nodded to Ford in thanks, and walked over to where Steven was standing.

Flowey was still ranting. Perhaps, being a living flower, he didn't have any lungs to exhaust of air. "-Asgore told me about you guys, I know all about you. Let me out of here and i'll kill you all, one by one." He looked over to where Dipper was standing, and grinned. "I'll start with the boy."  
"Woah, you don't need to fight us," Steven said soothingly, before looking over at Pearl. "Uh, what is he? Who's Asgore?"  
"I'm guessing he's a Monster," Pearl murmured, leaning closer. "Not a corrupted Gem monster, but the sentient species sealed underground centuries ago."  
"You guys never told me about that," Steven complained, holding the bubble up higher. "Monsters? Why were they sealed? Flowey seemed kind of harmless. Why do you insist on keeping these secrets from me?" Muttering under his breath, he tapped the top of the bubble and it - along with Flowey - disappeared.  
For a moment, Dipper thought Steven had killed the flower - less a concern because of intrinsic value, but Flowey had been a goldmine of information - and gasped aloud, but the other boy turned around, looking puzzled. "He's fine, Dipper. I just sent him to our Temple."  
Temple? Were Gems religious? "What sort of temple?" Dipper demanded, wondering if 'Temple' was just a euphemism for an afterlife. "Jewish? Aztec? Egyptian?"  
"Gem," Steven supplied. "In Beach City. It's our home. Speaking of which, come on. I can Warp you there." He held his hand out to Dipper.  
Ford stepped up, resting his hand on Dipper's shoulder. "I've always been willing to risk myself for an adventure, but I cannot ask Dipper to as well. So-"  
"Wait," Dipper interrupted him, holding a hand up. How could he phrase his question… "I'll come to the Temple, as long as I can leave afterward and with no permanent debilitating effects. I don't want to die there."  
"The Temple is perfectly safe," Amethyst laughed. "But you're Human, and we don't know you, so Steven _won't_ be letting you in. The house itself is enough."  
"That's what I meant," Steven turned to Amethyst, and froze. "Wait, what do you mean _I_ won't be letting them in?" He sounded hurt already, and Dipper hadn't even picked up on Amethyst's use of wording. Perhaps the other boy was smarter than Dipper thought.  
"We're going to ascend the Mountain while you take our guests home," Garnet said quietly, yet everyone heard her voice clearly. "This isn't up for debate, Steven. We can't risk the deaths of two civilians, however much they know."  
Two mere civilians? Dipper, who had more or less saved everyone from Weirdmageddon last year, and his great-uncle Ford, who had spent thirty years bouncing through foreign dimensions? He supposed it was fair. Ford hadn't told the Gems about that, and Dipper had followed his lead. "But what about the curse?" Steven protested sharply. "I don't want to lose you guys."  
"The curse is fake," Garnet told him. "A Human left the mountain a few months ago, I've heard. Now go, Steven."  
For a moment, Dipper was certain Steven would refuse, and call insist on keeping the party together. Either they all went up the mountain, or none of them did. It was what Mabel would've done, and Steven reminded him a bit of her. Not exactly - Dipper had a hard time believing Steven would be as immature as Mabel could be, but they both had a sort of empathetic strength, following their hearts instead of using their heads. But then the boy glanced at Dipper, and apparently decided it wasn't worth the bother. Steven slumped his shoulders and said, "come this way, Dipper and Ford."  
When they were all gone, Garnet turned towards the Mountain and said heavily, "let's climb."


	8. Holding On to Dreams

It was at times like this, when Frisk was feeling especially tired inside and out, that Chara seemed to choose to manifest more powerfully, as if leeching off his weakness.  
In the seat to her right, which should've been empty according to the airports - and so it seemed to be, for everyone else on the plane - a transparent, glittering child sat, wearing a striped green and yellow sweater, in stark contrast to Frisk's purple and blue. A ghost, except she wasn't like any other ghost that could be found in the Underground, or else anywhere different on the Surface. Chara stretched his arms out luxuriously, appreciative of having a physical form, if only temporarily.  
"Hello friend," the Fallen Human greeted casually, with a cheerful grin. As far as Frisk was aware, having had opportunity to test it in the other timelines, nobody - not even the magical Monsters from the Underground, not even after ghosts, strangely enough - could see or hear her, but Chara seemed perfectly content to have a single friend. "How are you holding up with the recent developments?"  
"I'm perfectly fine, if a little exhausted," Frisk muttered under her breath, taking care to talk quietly enough to not draw unwanted attention. Unlike the invisible ghost Chara, bystanders _could_ hear him, and Frisk didn't want the news getting out that the human saviour of Monsterkind was a lunatic child who spoke to herself, especially not in this one timeline.  
"You're a liar," came the expected response, and Frisk didn't refute it. Chara understood him too well to be deceived. Ever since Frisk had sold her soul - an action that had held repercussions he still didn't understand -, Chara had been tailing Frisk silently, observing and understanding the Eighth Human to an endless degree. "You can kill all of your Monster buddies without shedding a tear or feeling remorse, you'll willingly destroy an entire universe only to sacrifice your very essence to have it returned, you'll practice a certain difficult encounter repeatedly until you have it mastered, but without hesitation you'll give up on winning a snail race. My point is, Frisk, you're familiar to me. The reason you're so upset right now? It's because you've never gone this far away from the mountain before. At least, not that you remember."  
This particular phrasing, said so carelessly and yet with the sting of a dozen needles, made Frisk think back for a moment. After hundreds, if not thousands or millions, of Resets, her oldest memories had begun to fade. Even so, he had to have an origin, a justification for her existence. Did Frisk have a real family out there in the world, somewhere? If so… their faces couldn't be recalled.

Chara leaned forward, a regretful expression on her face. "Just listen, Frisk. I realise that you disapprove of me, you don't trust me, you don't even understand who or what I am. The answer's a lot simpler than you make it out to be, too. I'm Human, just like you are, and that means i'm dangerous. I understand the bad parts, unlike the people you surround yourself with on a daily basis. It also means I'm the best shot you have at having a long and happy life in one timeline, if that's what you want, or security in safety within your endless loops, if you want that instead. You don't have to trust me, but you kind of need me. We're still partners, even if you do betray me. You're alive, the living make mistakes sometimes."  
_I don't need or want a partner, and we aren't friends,_ Frisk silently insisted to himself, although her inner voice didn't sound so assured. Choosing not to respond to Chara, he turned his head to look out the window curiously, having never seen the world from so high above. This quickly turned out to be a mistake; despite there being a sky full of white fluffy clouds, they mostly turned out to be transparent, and even if they hadn't been there was just as much empty air for Frisk to stare straight through. Thousands of meters below, she could see the deeper blue hues of the ocean, with a green forest ahead. There'd been a forest like that below Mt Ebbot, except nowhere near as high, and that helped to scale everything in to perspctive. Said shortly, they were ridiculously high up into the sky, and while Frisk had been expecting that, the accompanying mental terror from a creature who spent all of their time possible time underground which followed was enough to have Frisk instinctively reaching to Reset.  
Almost lazily, Chara reached past and yanked the curtain down, covering the window and shutting out the sky. "Better. Really Frisk, what would you do without me? Scared of heights?" Laughing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bar of chocolate, encased in a silver wrapper.  
It took a few moments for Frisk to catch her breath, but once he did the first thing said was a justification. "I'm not scared of heights, it's the utter lack of control I hold over the situation."  
"Absolutely nobody would recognise you as the savior of the Underground, let alone the voiceless anti-angel," Chara said, pulling the wrapper back and biting off a square of dark chocolate. As if engaging in a massacre was somehow more impressive, or simply more difficult, than doing the literal impossible. "I've never thought about it, but whenever you choose to Reset at the mountain, it always happens only after you've tied all the loose ends up in the Underground. Except now, though, you have so many new things to try and do. Resetting now wouldn't be tentamount to ending the story, so much as giving up. And I don't take you for a quitter, Frisk." Chara took another bite.  
The dead kid had a point. Sitting up slightly straighter in her seat, Frisk asked after a moment, "hey, Chara. Can we talk like this more often?"

~

Frisk blinked his eyes as he awoke, the plane losing height gradually as it approached the runway.  
Her mouth tasted vaguely of chocolate, but that didn't last long. The window curtain was open, showing the ground right below. Brushing the sleep from his eyes, Frisk slowly sat up.


	9. Her family

_It took a certain strength to persist once there's little else to fight for,_ Dipper had once told her, back a few months ago. Dipper had been having nightmares, screaming occasionally in his sleep, and Mabel had woken him up once to help. Once in Gravity Falls she and Dipper, along with Soos, had managed to enter her grunkle's mind, but at home she couldn't remember the spell. Maybe even Dipper couldn't, without Ford's Journal.  
Mabel used to have wonderful dreams, prior to Weirdmageddon. Now she slept like a rock, and it saddened her that this little piece of magic had been taken from her by the past. At least she didn't suffer at night like Dipper.  
Whether or not Dipper was with her or not, Mabel was almost anticipating checking on Bill's remains, the stone statue buried partially into the ground. At least, that was how she remembered leaving him. It was with an eager energy when her old friends departed, leaving only Soos, her grunkle Stan, and Wendy outside the mystery shack.  
"Do you still work here?" Mabel asked the older girl, perplexed.  
Wendy gave a faint smile, before bursting into laughter. The chuckle only lasted a moment. "Ah, no. Sometimes for extra cash, but not officially. I just like checking in on the place."  
"Corduroy here did help save the town," Stan told her gruffly, turning to look out the window. He seemed tired, holding himself up by gripping the window ledge. "Moreso than the rest of them."  
"Mr. Pines," Soos exclaimed, stepping towards the former man of mystery. "What do you think you're talking about? It was thanks to you the town was saved!"  
Mabel remembered it well. Stan had sacrificed his memories, the memories of who he was and what made him as a person, to end Bill Cipher forever. The fact that Stan's amnesia had lasted only a short time was by no means indicative of the same happening with Bill. That being was gone.  
Stan barked out a laugh. "I guess I did, eh? Still… I was only enabled to do so by others. No matter… I still messed things up then, but life's been better since. I forgot how much I missed Ford's company."  
There was silence for a few minutes after that, as Mabel and Soos exchanged worried looks.

The glass panes started shaking in their frames in the silence, and souvenirs fell from their places. Nothing fragile was out, and the tremor didn't seem to threaten their safety. Stan pressed his hand against the window, and a few moments later the tremor ceased. None of them commented on it.

~

A few minutes passed before Stan seemed to wake from his stasis, and leaned back rubbing his hands together. "Sorry about that. Lost in memories of the past."  
"Aren't we all?" Wendy muttered behind Mabel, just loud enough to be heard.  
"We should do something fun," Stan announced. "Not exploring the woods, that's Dipper's thing, but a night on the town. What do you all say?"  
Mabel hesitated. She had promised Candy and Greta a girl's night… a night for the three of them to catch up on… but they could have a party any night, and it was Mabel's first day back. "I'd love to."  
"Can't," Wendy drawled at the same time. "Dad wants me to teach my brother to throw an axe properly.Something to do with his grip. Maybe some other time."  
"You weren't invited, Corduroy," Stan responded quickly, looking at Soos. "How about you, Soos? Close up shop for the night?"  
Soos smiled sadly. "I'm waiting on a delivery. From Ford, actually. He sent a message earlier. He and Dipper made friends in their travels."  
"What?" Mabel exclaimed, her voice cracking. "They've been gone a day. How on _earth_ …?"


End file.
